21872 Organisational Analysis

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

The subject enables students to understand and improve their own managerial and organisational practice by introducing them to the ideas associated with established theories of organising and emergent theories of practice in organisation studies. The subject reviews the key concepts and issues that inform debates on contemporary organising and allows students to develop reflective perspectives on these as they are relevant to their own work. Following an introduction to the theory and practice of organising, the subject is divided into two main parts: concepts and issues. The key concepts that are discussed include organisational structure, organisational culture, organisational power and organisational responsibility. The key issues for practice that are discussed are organisational change and identity, gendered organisations and diversity, cross-cultural organising, management and organisational fads and fashions, anti-corporate movements and globalisation, and corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Understand the nature of organising as a contemporary and historically and culturally located practice.
2. Interrogate their own managerial practice and that of their organisations in order to make informed and responsible judgements and decisions.
3. Identify and understand key organisational concepts and issues so as to be able to articulate their own theory of responsible management practice.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject contributes to the EMBA by providing students with the knowledge and skills to make critically informed and responsible business decisions as they relate to the practice of organising. By providing a forum for the critical interrogation and reformulation of practice, the subject will enable participants to develop their own insights and reflections so as to develop a 'theory of practice' that is informed by the latest research, while at the same time being based on, and relevant to, the contextual specificities of their own field of practice. Students will thus be enabled to develop more complex and considered approaches to decision making on core issues for contemporary organisations, such as those of change management, organisational culture, organisational politics, and social and ecological sustainability. The subject is a key ingredient in ensuring that students are 'work-ready' in the sense of being immediately relevant to their own professional practice, and 'forward-thinking' in the sense that the subject will provide the analytical and conceptual awareness to bring advanced thinking to novel and unforeseen managerial and organisational problems.

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject is specifically designed to enable students to develop a critical appreciation of organisational practice. Experientially-based and non-didactic in approach, the subject will focus on reflection and self-directed learning. Students will be introduced to the most important debates, concepts and issues that are related to management and organisations in contemporary times, and will be asked to reflect on these as they are relevant to their practice, experience, and those organisations within and around which they work. Through the use of experiential and reflective pedagogical methods as well as through reflection-based assessment tasks, students will develop and articulate accounts of their evolving 'theory of practice' as it relates to organising and organisations. The subject will draw on the latest research work in the field of Organisation Studies to ensure that the material is theoretically sophisticated, practically relevant, and intellectually rigorous.

Content

• The contemporary practice of organising
• Organisation and change
• Organisation and power
• Organisation and culture
• Organisation, social and moral responsibility

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Presentation on a key issue (Group)

Assessment item 2: Critical reflection on practice essay (Individual)

Assessment item 3: Exam (Individual)